Total till sales growth slowed down to 3.2% in the four weeks to 1 November, compared to 4.1% in the previous month, according to the latest figures from NIQ.
The spending slowdown is thought to be due to shoppers delaying purchases ahead of Black Friday and Christmas shopping deals and the increasing pressure from rising inflation.
In-store visits increased by 3.9% compared to the year prior, and the amount of products purchased on discount made up 24% of the sales.
Ocado remained the top-performing retailer, with till sales increasing by 13.8%, and Lidl was second at 10.7% growth.
Retailers M&S and Sainsbury’s saw their sales increase by 9.6% and 5.5%, respectively.
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Waitrose and Tesco experienced a sales growth of 4.8% each, and discounter Aldi saw sales increase by 4.4%. Morrisons saw a slight increase of 1.9%, while Asda’s sales declined by 6.5%.
The grocery categories that experienced the highest unit growth were dairy, meat, fish and poultry and fresh produce at 1.6%, 1.4% and 0.4%, respectively.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, said: “The slowdown in growth in the last four weeks was not helped by continued inflation, fragile consumer confidence and a generally mild October, and any discretionary spending power has not translated into extra food and drink sales at food retailers during the Halloween half term. And the mood music around possible tax rises in the November budget may not have helped sentiment either.”
Watkins added: “NIQ sees food sales growth continuing at current levels for the rest of November, but we expect sales to accelerate in early December, and it will depend on the success of the current advertising campaigns to encourage shoppers to spend more, as well as the impact of Black Friday in diverting some spend.”
